Flyte: 'Voices' told him to kill his Eldred neighbors

Tuesday

May 6, 2014 at 12:01 AM

An Eldred Township man charged with fatally shooting his two neighbors in March told police he had been awake on coffee for 80 hours leading up to the slayings and heard voices telling him to kill his neighbors, according to court testimony Monday.

ANDREW SCOTT

An Eldred Township man charged with fatally shooting his two neighbors in March told police he had been awake on coffee for 80 hours leading up to the slayings and heard voices telling him to kill his neighbors, according to court testimony Monday.

Following a preliminary hearing, Snydersville Magisterial District Judge JoLana Krawitz found sufficient evidence to send murder, attempted murder and animal cruelty charges against Garry Flyte, 54, to Monroe County Court.

Flyte remains in Monroe County Correctional Facility without bail on charges related to the deaths of Meixell Valley Road neighbors Jeffrey Place, also 54, Place's son, Steven Powell, 30, and the family dog.

The victims' tearful family declined to comment after Monday's hearing.

On an undetermined date that was anywhere between a week to several months prior to the shootings, another neighbor contacted state police about Flyte walking on the road and carrying a 410-gauge shotgun inherited from his grandfather, according to Flyte's family and police.

Flyte's wife, Patricia, said after the hearing that she was walking in nearby woods that day and that she didn't become aware until later that he was looking for her, but did not say why he was carrying a shotgun while looking for her.

Police found the gun unloaded and no evidence that it had been fired prior to their arrival, said Trooper David Peters, public information officer for state police Troop N at the Hazleton barracks, which covers Monroe County.

"We later found out that, when the police came, they found my dad saying things that didn't make sense," said Ray Flyte, Garry and Patricia's son.

Ray's wife, Christina Flyte, said Garry talked about seeing "cowboys and Indians" at one point.

"My dad had no mental issues we were aware of before this happened, but why didn't the police have him committed right then and there (when finding him with the gun on the road) if he was talking crazy like that?" Ray Flyte asked. "Why did they let it go until he killed the neighbors? This could've been prevented. Now, we've got two families suffering."

Peters said nothing about what Garry Flyte told police at the time, but indicated police found no reason to take Flyte into custody.

Patricia Flyte said her husband, during the days leading up to the shootings, woke her at night and told her he was hearing voices and people running around outside of their home.

"Our (motion sensors) were going off, and I thought I heard voices myself, like someone was outside," she said.

Ray Flyte said his father at one point reported this to police.

Peters said police responded to 15 calls at Garry Flyte's address, which contains two separate residences, between November 2012 and March 19, 2014.

Only one of those 15 calls involved Flyte, who at the time reported people causing a disturbance near his home, Peters said.

Police found no one causing any disturbance.

Patricia Flyte said she was in the bathroom when her husband went next door and allegedly shot the neighbors at about 6:50 p.m. March 19.

Garry Flyte shot Place once in the abdomen, knocking him down in the entrance between the enclosed front porch and the rest of the house, according to police and county Coroner Bob Allen.

Flyte then fired one shot at Powell, who was nearby, hitting him in the right arm and upper right torso, according to police and Allen.

Powell went through the kitchen, into the hallway and exited the house through the rear enclosed porch prior to falling in the field behind the house.

Flyte then went through the rest of the house in search of Place's wife, Wendy Place, meaning to shoot her, too, police said.

He saw movement in the master bedroom and fired, thinking it was her but not realizing at the time that it was the family dog.

Wendy Place was out in the field behind the house with Powell, who was taken by ambulance to Pocono Medical Center and died on the operating table, according to police and Allen.

"I didn't hear any shots fired," Patricia Flyte said after the hearing.

She said she was still in the bathroom when her husband came back to their home, placed the shotgun on the couch, called 911 and then went back next door to await police.

"I didn't know anything was going on until I came out of the bathroom, looked out the window and saw the police next door," she said.

Trooper Nicolas De La Iglesia testified during the hearing that Garry Flyte, when in custody, told police he had heard voices telling him to kill his neighbors.

"He said the voices also told him his neighbors had killed his son and daughter-in-law, but that he never checked to see if that was true prior to going next door and shooting the neighbors," De La Iglesia said.

"He said the neighbors were good people and that he'd never had any problems with them during the 20 years they'd been living next to each other."

Relatives sobbed and hugged each other at one point while listening to testimony.

Because a standing-room-only crowd filled the small courtroom, Flyte's family had to sit in a side room, where defense attorneys talk to their clients prior to court proceedings, with the door open so they could hear the testimony.